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Our image of the Buddha
All statues and even online images of the Buddha pretty much look the same. Where does these images come from?
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Actually, the facial characteristics tend to mimic the general characteristics of the people in whose country the painting or statuary was created... Thai looks Thai, Chinese looks Chinese, etc.
As to why there should be a limited number of poses or postures (meditating, starving, lying down in death, providing a focus for a mandala, or displaying mudras or whatever) I imagine it has to do with the limited number of ways in which human beings tend to want to see Gautama. People are not especially keen to see him picking his teeth or doing cartwheels, so.... we get versions of "the Buddha," "the one who is awake," "the one who, in various ways, inspires the onlooker."
All this is strictly speculative on my part.
Hotei: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budai
Greco-Buddhism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Greco-Buddhism, sometimes spelled Graeco-Buddhism, refers to the cultural syncretism between Hellenistic culture and Buddhism, which developed between the 4th century BCE and the 5th century CE in the area covered by the Indian sub-continent, and modern Afghanistan, Pakistan and north-western border regions of modern India. It was a cultural consequence of a long chain of interactions begun by Greek forays into India from the time of Alexander the Great, carried further by the establishment of Indo-Greek rule in the area for some centuries, and extended during flourishing of the Hellenized empire of the Kushans.[citation needed] Greco-Buddhism influenced the artistic, and perhaps the spiritual development of Buddhism, particularly Mahayana Buddhism, which represents one of the two main branches of Buddhism.[1] The Buddhist religious system was then adopted in Central and Northeastern Asia, from the 1st century CE, ultimately spreading to China, Korea and Japan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism
The photo is from the article, called the Gandhara Buddha, apparently showing the Greek influence.
But it was areas like the Hindu Kush, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, and the Kushan empire, again, in the northwest part of India.
And that accounts for the Greek style in some of the images of the Buddha.
Btw, I always thought the Buddha would look Asian. But when looking back at the description, there is mention of the Buddha having saphire blue eyes. I would say he looks mix.
ah, the things i do instead of meditating... :rolleyes:
And I like having Hotei stand in for the Buddha in the west. For a culture that has turned healthy living into a religion, this fat Buddha speaks to the fatty inside all of us. He grins and sometimes dances, and reminds us that inside every skinny, fat and flavor deprived, cholesterol counting and bottled water swigging person keeping the hamster wheel turning ever faster is someone who knows in the end, all it means is some of us get to fit into a smaller coffin.
Fat people have Buddha Nature, too.
Loved your drawing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanyin
I like this image.
Including the Greco-Buddhist ones. How can you just say such a thing?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emersonrauth/5877171374/sizes/l/in/photostream/
That's not going to change.
So in popular culture, the Laughing Buddha is the face of Buddha. Hey, don't blame me. It's because the little laughing guy is everywhere.
It would be akin to people identifying Saint John the Baptist as Jesus Christ, as they often are depicted in a similar manner - robe, beard, staff, etc - yet they are completely separate beings. It would take time for this to be corrected, but I doubt Christians would just accept this and allow the mistake to be further ingrained into the culture.